cost of living in Helsinki?

[zoltar]

lili - You might be too late to apply but you should look into the new European Chemicals Agency which will be located in Helsinki - http://www.valtioneuvosto.fi/ajankohtai ... oid=149039

[superiorinferior]

We paid rent 1,800 Euro a month for about 160 sm2 in Katajanokka (Helsinki city centre). It has three bed rooms, a living room and a dining room, unfournished, but kitchen is full equiped. I was told it was a good renting price as others pay 2,300 to 2,500 Euro a month to a similar apartment. I know the landlord has raised the rent to 2,000 when we moved out a few months ago.

I personelly think Helssinki is a very expensive place to live. Good luck and Welcome to Finland

holy cr@p, that's a lotta money. I always wondered who rented those apartments costing more than 1,200 per month. Now I know.

We have a smaller apartment (about 90 m2) in Meilahti that goes for 1000.. and we have a hard time balancing the books. It must be neat to be rich.

Please keep in mind, lili, that Katajanokka real estate is very pricey. You can get similar sized apartments in other areas for much less. It is a very exclusive neighborhood, with nothing other than (that I can see) exclusivity to offer. Sure there are nice apartments and architecture and history there, but the local groceries and services are not as good as perhaps in the center of town (Katajanokka is almost an island off the southeast side).

[lili]

Thank you everybody for very valuable suggestions. I checked the schools and really like the Ressu school. I can only hope that they will accept my daughter once we know for sure that we are coming. The job negotations are in place. If the offer is OK, my husband will sign a local contract so we will not have all the extras that expatriot status brings. Since I will not immidiately have a job we would not like to spent to much money on luxorious things. We can survive in a smaller apartement for some time. Are the areas in the city very different in prices? Espoo sounds wonderfull but we would prefer to be in the city for some time. Is it possible to rent something decent (unfurnished 2/3 bedroom) for let's say 1000 euros?Please vergive me, I am not familiar with the area names and am not sure are the places mentioned some suraunding areas to Helsinki or parts of the city.

[superiorinferior]

Thank you everybody for very valuable suggestions. I checked the schools and really like the Ressu school. I can only hope that they will accept my daughter once we know for sure that we are coming. The job negotations are in place. If the offer is OK, my husband will sign a local contract so we will not have all the extras that expatriot status brings. Since I will not immidiately have a job we would not like to spent to much money on luxorious things. We can survive in a smaller apartement for some time. Are the areas in the city very different in prices? Espoo sounds wonderfull but we would prefer to be in the city for some time. Is it possible to rent something decent (unfurnished 2/3 bedroom) for let's say 1000 euros?

More like 3-4 rooms total for 1000.

I reckon your Finnish isn't perfect, but play around with etuovi.com and oikotie.fi, if you dare.


etuovi search for 4-5 room apartments in Helsinki:

oikotie.fi is a little less user friendly at the moment. somebody redesigned their pages recently ... but otherwise, they are THE source for real estate in Finalnd.

[Nallis]

And remember that when you are searching for an apartment in Helsinki, the ads always have the total number of rooms. So for example 4h + k would mean that there are three bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen. Dining rooms are usually mentioned if there is a separate one.

Schoolwise I recommend Ressu over ISH, although there are plenty more options. SYK (Suomalainen yhteiskoulu) which is the best school in Finland offers IB programme as well, and there is one in Vantaa too. In addition, there is Kulosaari Upper Secondary School in Helsinki and Espoo International in Espoo which offer english language curriculum. In these school you would do the AICE programme, which is the international version of British A-levels.

I myself went to Kulosaari Upper Sec. and loved it. Our school was in close cooperation with ISH. For example every year we would go to Holland for a week to take part in an international Model United Nations conference. ISH is more american-style school where you would meet other expat parents more often than in Kulosaari.

All in all, there are plenty of options to choose from!

[lili]

"the ads always have the total number of rooms. So for example 4h + k would mean that there are three bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen."
Nallis thanks for this info. I was wondering about that.

Regarding schools:The employer offered to pay for ISH. We explored all options and like also other schools. It is imperative for us that our daughter at list starts the highschool in english (plus IB)since none of us knows one worg in finish yet. From all the info we and the employer gatterred so far,it will be very difficult to get a spot in public shools. That's the only reason why ISH.
Does anybody knows are the school fees taxable benefit?

[zam]

Does anybody knows are the school fees taxable benefit?

Defenitely. Almost everything the employer pays for you is a taxed benefit here. Some things (like cars) have certain tax values that are added to the monthly salary, some are just added on top of all your incomes and the tax is calculated from this higher sum.

See http://www.vero.fi/default.asp?language ... RO_ENGLISH for information on Finnish tax system.

[Rosamunda]

Yes I can confirm... school fees are a taxable benefit.

I see no reason why your daughter cannot get in to public school. Mine speak very little Finnish (none when they arrived) and all 3 are in state schools. By the way, your daughter will not learn any Finnish at ISH. Their Finnish second language programme is mainly based on Finnish culture and "tourist" Finnish (at least it was when mine were there). It is not a structured language learning programme, simply because new foreign kids join the school all the time and it is impossible to offer individualised lessons for each child. On the other hand the school does offer an ESL (English second language) programme, which most other schools do not since the students are tested for English when they are admitted. My guess is the academic level is higher at Ressu since the entrance requirements and selection criteria are stricter and there is more competition for places.